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The conversion of busy inner
London routes 28 and 31 from RMs to minibus
operation was madness. After fifteen years of
standing loads, that mistake is finally being
rectified with the return of double-deckers. I'm
not even too fussed about the accompanying
decrease of frequency that is seeing sixty
64-seat Volvo B7TLs replace seventy-seven 22-seat
Dennis Dart SLFs over the next few weeks, because
what would happen with the old order is that you
would have to let three packed buses go by and
then still have to stand. Not good enough. The 31 is being done
first, with the 28 now starting to take its first
new buses and then the 328 will follow - this
third route was introduced in 1999 to unite the
inner ends of the two main routes which, it was
felt at the time, were too long to continue to
survive current traffic conditions.
Westbourne
Park's new VNW 32376 (LK04 HZF) sets off
from Camden Town at the start of its journey this
afternoon. As it still ended up full to bursting
within the first six stops, it's a good thing it
wasn't a minibus. Maybe they should order some
more new double-deckers after all!
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